Postal Service continues long retreat
Lewis DiuguidIn the lifetime of baby boomers, the U.S. Postal Service has gone from delivering mail twice a day in rain, hail, sleet and snow to once a day, and that regardless-of-weather-thing is questionable.
Now the Postal Service in August will dump Saturday deliveries to save $2 billion a year. The greeting card companies have rightfully groaned about it.
But weekly newspapers like The Call, which lands in a lot of mailboxes on Saturdays, should also be upset by the postal cutback. The Internet has caused people to use the Postal Service a lot less.
The plunge in volume, however, has resulted in those who depend on the post office to pay more, yet get less. That trend is longstanding and has been spreading like the flu across many industries.
Stamps went up a penny to 46 cents recently. But has anyone also noticed that mailboxes, which used to be nearly everywhere also have been pulled.
Post offices have been closing, leaving eyesores in a lot of urban and rural communities. Many that are open are seriously reducing their hours.
With the cuts to save billions of dollars, expect serious trims in Postal Service jobs. There just won’t be the need for as many workers.
Phil Cardarella
4 months, 1 week agoLet us not lose track: The Postal Service is running at a substantial profit BUT FOR the requirement imposed by a GOP Congress that it — unlike any other business — pay a huge amount into advance funding for pensions.
This little poison pill was the GOP’s way of punishing the unionized USPS for keeping its pay and benefits high enough to allow its workers to stay in the shrinking middle class.
Not coincidentally, the Members whose Districts most heavily rely on the USPS will probably now hear from their voters.
Besides, the Postal Service was NEVER intended to run at a profit, any more than the Army or Navy. It is a NATIONAL postal service for everywhere from New York to Bucolia (Pop. 12). You CANNOT make money delivering stuff daily to each address in Bucolia.
The fact is that UPS and FedEx do NOT compete with the USPS. They get to cherry-pick what and where they deliver. Given that, the USPS has done a remarkable job — and would do better if Congress would unshackle it.
George Hunsucker
Northland
4 months, 1 week agoTell your lib buddies Phil to unshackle them and allow first class mail competition… We shall see who wins that race partner…..